Stella Update

The winds kept up until about 8pm and light snow was still falling at midnight. We've never let that much snow accumulate before but it would have been crazy to go out in the blizzard to blow snow. The distribution of the snow was very different. All of the wind created some pretty deep drifts. A few feet away, the snow would be so thin that the grass blades were sticking through.

We got out early to start clearing the snow. It was very dense and heavy and was the kind of snow that could very easily be cut into igloo building blocks. We were just getting started when our neighbor Jim yelled up from the end of the driveway "Hey Jeff! Want me to get my tractor?".

Jim has a new toy. He had a tiny, 50 year old tractor that he used to clear his driveway. It recently died. He was lamenting that down at the local coffee shop when someone offered to give him a relatively new Kubota that he wasn't using. Jim swapped him a cup of coffee for the Kubota.

Jim has a canvas barn that he wanted to use to store his new tractor. He was unhappy to discover that the door wasn't high enough. Jim built some 2 foot knee walls and then we had a literal "barn raising" while several of us lifted the barn, one side at a time, while the knee wall was moved into place and secured.

To return to the story... who were we to deprive Jim of a chance to play with his new tractor. We told him to go ahead and bring it down.

Looking out our front window at Rose Cottage across the street (the plows were going all night so that the school didn't need to have another snow day).

Driveway snow where it was piled against the door.

Looking out the garage door at the driveway.

The farmers porch. The porch is covered so this was all blown in.

We had to dig out our dryer vent. It's near the ground behind that AC compressor with all the snow on it.

Neighbor Jim to the rescue!

The wind was apparently too much for our windmill. I've brought it in but it's caked in ice. Once it thaws out, I'll have to see if it can be repaired.

The pile of snow that Jim left at the end of the driveway.

The birds have still been going nuts at the feeders. Every time I try to get a shot of them, they scatter. You can see one brilliant red cardinal in the lilac bush  in the center of the picture. We often have 4 or 5 cardinals at the feeders at the same time.

We finished the upstairs floor this afternoon. I'll post some more pictures of it once we get the baseboards installed.

-JC-